Feelings and Moving On

I’ve been feeling sad and overwhelmed and tired lately. Mostly because of what’s been happening in the world, but partly because of jetlag and I’ve been working a lot and so my body is getting tired and my fibromyalgia is acting up.

I’ve tried to write this post in a number of different ways, over a number of different days, but each time it has ended up being sad or bitter- about people who have lost it all and who are living the end of the world as they know it. But this morning I came across three posts, from three very different sources, that I’d like to share with you.

The struggles in the Middle East, in Bahrain, Yemen, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. Everyone protesting, everyone clinging to hope for change, many failing, many succeeding, and many hurt, injured, dead in the process.

The way the media consumes these crises adds to the feeling of helplessness….Mad Men shows us history may repeat itself, but on television it goes into an endless loop, battering our emotions into a dull numbness that calls out for soothing.

And then, this morning, I watched a TED Video with Sarah Kay, which begins with an amazing poem: “B”. (be warned, the sound and video begin immediately upon loading.)

What does this have to do with frugality? Not much.

Beyond comfort, the only lessons I can draw are the highly practical: the importance of having many small emergency kits, complete with cash and copies of important documents (perhaps on a USB key), or the philosophical: why should we have so many possessions in the first place, when they could all, literally, be swept away. But comfort is important: taking comfort in one’s family, one’s voice, being a part of a bigger thing. And that might just be the answer to the question of why I’m frugal in the first place.

Perhaps another aspect of frugality is being careful what news one takes in. I’ve given and am giving myself a media “fast”. Egypt had its revolution without my even being aware. Annoyingly, the situation in Japan and Libya bled through onto the technology websites I frequent, but only a little. Not knowing about things you can’t influence is not dissimilar to not owning things you don’t need. There’s a freedom in not knowing.

That Ted Talk is amazing, BTW. I watched it, searched out Sarah Kay and exchanged e-mail with her and she’s just as nice one-on-one as she is on stage.

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